It’s no surprise that the Barrow County Board of Education is considering a millage rate hike. Every school system in Georgia is suffering from a budget crisis that has been building for the last few years.
But Barrow County is perhaps one of the hardest hit communities in that crisis. The collapse of Barrow’s local tax digest has been among the worst in the nation. A recent AJC story listed the Winder zip code as being in the top one percent of the nation with homes “underwater.” Over 63 percent of homeowners in Barrow owe more money on their homes than the houses are currently worth. That and the very high foreclosure rate places Barrow at ground zero of the housing collapse.
There has been a lot of pain from that economic downturn, but perhaps none has been as severe as its impact on public schools. Because schools have a very narrow source of revenue, any hit on income is dramatic. Public school systems only have local taxes and state revenues to pay for expenses while most other local governments have a variety of sources.

So the cuts in state funds and the dramatic decline in local tax funds hit Barrow with a double-whammy. And even as funding declined, more students came into the system to be educated. In addition, the state has handed down more of its costs to local systems during the economic downturn.
Making all of that even more complex is that there are only so many ways local public schools can make cuts. There are many state mandates that tie the hands of local boards. Systems can’t turn away additional students and even with state waivers, it still has to maintain certain teacher-pupil ratios.

Barrow has already taken a lot of actions to cut costs. This year, for example, it had a 160-day school calendar, 20 days less than normal. Some positions have been left vacant in the system and other cost-cutting measures have also been adopted.
The bottom line is that the BCSS is operating on less money now than it did just a few years ago. The system’s revenues in 2009 were $101 million; last year the revenues were $96.1 million. The drop in revenue along with an increasing number of students means the system now spends eight percent less per student than it did in 2009.
And then there is this irony: Because the BCSS has been financially well-managed in the past, it has less room to make cuts than systems that were bloated. Last year, Barrow ranked 169th out of 193 school systems in per student spending — it is among the cheapest in the state in its spending. When a system is already spending less and has been lean for a long time, it’s difficult to find new ways to cut costs.

Now the BCSS is looking at next year’s budget, which begins July 1. With more state costs being handed down, the prospect of another digest downturn and more students to educate, system leaders are proposing a tax hike from 18.5 mills to the state maximum of 20 mills.
One part of that is that the system wants to go back to 170-day calendar next year due to the new state common core standards being implemented. But adding back 10 days will also add additional costs from this year.
Another factor weighing on the system is that it will use up a large part of its reserves this year. But like a lot of other systems in Georgia, it can’t draw down reserves forever. Pretty soon, it won’t have any reserves left.
So the proposed millage hike is one way to help address those financial pressures.

But there are several issues related to hiking the millage rate. For one thing, is doing that really a tax hike?
Millage rates are just one part of the equation. Property value is the other part. So is a higher mill rate on lower property values a true hike in taxes?
For example, in 2009, the Barrow Journal paid $1,560 in Barrow school taxes on its May Street building. Last year in 2012, we only paid $954 in school taxes, a drop of 39 percent. That means that even with a hike in the millage rate, we would still pay less school taxes than we did in 2009.
Many public officials would argue that hiking the mill rate to offset a drop in the digest really isn’t a tax hike, that it is just an “offset” of the decline in values.
But the other way to look at that question is to argue that a higher mill rate on less valuable property is indeed a hike in taxes because the ratio is different. In addition, one could argue that during a major economic downturn, property owners should pay less in taxes since government shouldn’t be exempt from the economic reality.
And after all, when property values were rising rapidly, local governments didn’t lower the mill rates to offset the higher tax payment, they kept the mill rate the same and gladly accepted the windfall of revenue higher assessment brought in. Shouldn’t that work both directions?

That is, of course, an academic question to some degree. While other local governments have a lot of flexibility to shrink their services, local public school systems don’t. State and federal mandates dictate how local school systems have to operate and the minimum standards they are required to follow. Local school boards really don’t have much flexibility.
For the Barrow BOE, however, the real question in all of this is whether or not it should raise the tax rate, or go back to 160-day calendar and make other cost cutting moves. Some would argue that raising the tax rate should be held as a last resort, an emergency move held in reserve. Others would argue that going back to 160 days or other employee cost-cutting would erode the system’s ability to stay competitive, both academically and in keeping good teachers who might seek employment in a system that has more days or higher local supplements.
There are legitimate arguments to be made on both sides of that issue. And while there are really no “good” options, it might be worthwhile for the BOE to have a healthy pro-and-con public debate about all of its financial choices and limitations.
Whatever the BOE decides, it will be painful for some people. The more the public knows about the BOE’s difficult choices, the more it will understand what’s happening during these difficult times.
Mike Buffington is co-publisher of the Barrow Journal. He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.

I will start this argument again. How can the BOE and the BOC raise my school taxes, ask me to do more, but we get nothing in return. The grades are not increasing. The graduation rate is not getting better. Then number of teachers isn’t getting better.

Greedy BOE members tell me what I am getting for my tax increase? Lie if you have to … because you cannot tell the truth and ask for more.

Even during the best of time being a member of the BOE is a difficult and often thankless job. When the district is in dire financial straits then the duties are particularly painful. No one enjoys deep spending cuts or budgets that have been whittled to the bone. And no one likes tax hikes. But folks REALLY balk at these scenarios when they have absolutely no confidence in the people who are supposedly leading. Dr. Creel has no "street cred" with any stakeholders in Barrow County, and the fact that many BOE members refuse to acknowledge the debacle that has been her tenure has caused their constituents to lose trust in them as well. Use whatever funds you have to BUY HER OUT so that some real change and improvement can begin to take place. And to even be entertaining the idea of the Career Academy at this point is the financial equivalent of struggling to pay your mortgage but planning to buy a condo at the beach. Are you BOE members really as clueless as you appear?

Show some grade average increase, graduation rate up and less drop outs then you can ask for more ... but until then keep your thieving hand out of my pocket. Let each BOE member and Dr. Creel do like the President (a joke) and give back 20% of your salary to the system.

People, you're getting a bargain. You can't possibly argue that things need to get better in terms of student achievement and scores before you start forking over more in taxes (which would be nominally less than 2009).

Graduation rate? The district is at the state average and has actually increased since the recession started. The new formula for calculating the graduation rate is the only thing that has changed.

Yet, the county is 169 out of 193 in spending. Again you are getting a bargain. In the district I live in, the spending is almost $12,000 per student (Clarke) and they are not achieving as much as Barrow. Now, does the county have a issues with its administration at the county level? Absolutely. However, don't punish the students and teachers who appear to be doing well with what little they have.

Mr Ripper who cares what you and your county does. Or what YOU think. I want these crooks out of my pocket. I do not want to pay more than I am for the kids that BC schools are turning out. If you do then move here and pay "your fair share". I do not want to.

As I said before idiot men with idiot ideas being led by an idiot woman.

You want me to educate MORE students in my classes, increase the number of graduates, reduce the number of dropouts, & adjust teaching to the common core standards that are being rolled out nationally.

H'mmmm....All the while you are asking me to pay more for health insurance (rate increases, increased co-pays/deductibles, more out of pocket expenses), continue to get hit with furlough days and no increases in salary while the cost of living climbs (gas, food, utilities).

Oh, and you want me to provide your children with: pens, pencils and paper. You want me to call you when its convenient for you (during evenings) when the student portal can provide you the same information on the internet whenever you want to see the progress of your child).

The problem is the parents, plain and simple. How can you expect a teacher, work with your child 6hrs a day, while you have them the rest of the time and they fail ?

School is not a "dry cleaning" service, where you drop off your kids and they come home all clean and educated. You must take care of them.

Go look at our classrooms and see all the dirty, grungy kids who have not had a bath in day's, clean clothes or a meal because you choose to use your EBT (which I pay for) on anything but taking care of your child.

Bottom line, until the mentality of "Barra County" changes, these kids will not do well because of their home life and think that their life should emulate (that means mirror) their parents lives.

So, before you call the BOE crooks, teaches whiners and how the "system" is so flawed, why dont you go and take a hard look at your community and neighbors and petition them to do better with their kids

"You want me to educate MORE students in my classes, increase the number of graduates, reduce the number of dropouts, & adjust teaching to the common core standards that are being rolled out nationally." - Mr. Teacher.
IF this was happening I think a raise would be granted.

That is why education needs to have incentives. How to do that well - I don't know. In my personal opinion, a higher college degree does not mean squat. There are teachers out there with 4-year degrees that do a hell of a job and then there are money soaking Masters, Specialist, and Doctorates that demonstrated that they have the money (or their family did) to pay for an advanced degree and/or they can do a litany of coursework.

Are there teachers that have advanced degrees that also work their butts off in the class? Absolutely, I honestly believe that a vast majority do. But, there is a structural problem with the system. Teachers have no way to advance economically in the system the way it is now. The only way to advance (drastically) economically is to acquire an advanced degree. So teachers are left with only one option to get a pay raise - get an advanced degree. However, like I said before, an advanced degree does not mean you are a good classroom teacher.

There is no quantitative evidence that suggests an advanced degree will lead to higher results in public education. NONE. The other problem is - there is no quantitative way to gather data to display how well a teacher has done their job either. There are so many variables come into play, it is impossible to calculate. I could probably go on for a day about the different variables that come into play that effect student performance. Ultimately, by the end of that day-long conversation, those poor ears listening to me would agree that there are more things that happen that are out of the teachers sphere of influence that effect student performance than there are in the teachers classroom.

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